Letters to the editor: 2/20

Hagel could become Obama's next fall guy

President Obama's decision to nominate former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense may suggest that Obama knows something more about the inevitable than we do. When one considers that Obama has been historically eager to attach any and all blame for his own shortcomings on Republicans, Hagel could be a rather convenient, if not foreboding, fall guy.

At the onset of President Obama's first term, he conceded to America's vulnerability from nuclear attack and our woefully insufficient preparedness for said attack. Because of Obama's weakness when dealing with archrivals Iran and North Korea, these countries continue to produce nuclear warhead capabilities. Recently, North Korea threatened the U.S., claiming its intent to use those warheads against us if provoked. Now, Obama decides to compound those threats by reducing, by one-third, our own nuclear arsenal.

Interestingly, Obama left our "Star Wars" program alone. President George W. Bush boldly defied the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty when initiating that program and was condemned by the media for doing so.

U.S. intelligence officials speculate that one scenario, involving a rogue country, launches a nuclear missile from a commandeered barge parked just outside international waters along our coast, thereby circumventing our missile defense and avoiding any retaliation.

Steven P. Clum

Walden

'Unwinnable' wars path toward financial ruin

Our illustrious leader (President Obama) has set a goal of reducing our country's financial debt by $4.1 trillion in 10 years, a truly lofty accomplishment. This causes the thinking mind to wonder, at that rate, how long will it take to erase our soon to be $18 trillion debt? Especially the way he keeps raising the country's debt limit.

And what's with those high-paid "dolts" in Congress who can't remember how the war in Afghanistan almost bankrupted Russia to the point where they had to back out with their tail between their legs, and the way we did the same when we backed out of out "police action" in Vietnam that got too burdensome? It looks like we are bound to repeat our mistakes forever. I think that more than 10 years of war should be enough to make us wonder, what is war good for? The only beneficiaries are the manufacturers of killing machines.

How much longer must we send our youth to die or come home maimed or disoriented before we say enough is enough? Can't our leaders see that this unwinnable war is what's causing our financial woes? How much of our national budget is spent on the military? Nobody will tell us because if we knew, we might start rebelling.

What a loss it would be if one of those who died could have become a great spiritual leader that could lead the human race into the Age of Enlightenment and the promised thousand years of peace!

Art Kaiser

Wappingers Falls

Casinos potential source of needed tax revenues

If New York were to legalize casinos, then our state economy would see an increase of cash through taxing casino winnings and taxing the casinos themselves. Currently many New Yorkers travel to New Jersey to gamble, and the question is why New York will not legalize gambling to capture a portion of the gambling tax revenue from New Jersey? In 2012, New Jersey casinos realized revenue was $3.05 billion and the state collected $102 million in tax revenues. New Jersey only has a base tax of 8 percent on casino gross revenues, which is somewhat lower in comparison to Colorado and states along the Mississippi River that tax the riverboat gambling. If New York used a tax method similar to Colorado, then New York may even be able to collect a larger amount of tax revenue than nearby New Jersey.

There is also the extra benefit of a casino drawing tourism to a local town and increasing the profits of the surrounding businesses. This increase for the local economy will only work if the community and casino cooperate for success such as the casino allowing local restaurants and not national chains to operate inside them. Casinos can also receive the support of towns by either donating money or agreeing to pay local taxes in order to support local public works. There is also the added benefit of casino jobs decreasing the unemployment rate for the towns and even the whole state.